Some Fianna Fail ministers plan to tell the Taoiseach early this week that a new strategy has to be put in place to deal with the torrent of allegations which is destabilising the Government.
They detect that the focus has shifted from Mr Charles Haughey, Mr Padraig Flynn and Mr Ray Burke to Mr Bertie Ahern in recent days and that a stream of queries relating to the Taoiseach's past actions and associates can be expected for the foreseeable future.
The ministers want early consideration of how the Fianna Fail members of the minority Coalition can cope with this sudden turn of events. They are getting tired of the "weekly diversion" of allegations being put up to them on Fridays without sufficient time to scotch damaging stories in the Sunday newspapers.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fail "heard" for the first time last Thursday evening that the EU Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, accepts that he may have been mistaken in the way he handled the allegation that he had received £50,000 from Mr Tom Gilmartin, on The Late Late Show.
Some Fianna Fail Ministers now believe that they may have little option but to support a Dail motion calling for Mr Flynn's resignation in the next few weeks. Fine Gael has already signalled its intention to consider such a motion if Mr Flynn does not respond to last week's Dail vote seeking a statement about the £50,000 donation.
Government sources admit that there is "some disquiet" among ministers about how the Haughey legacy, being considered by the tribunals, is impacting on them. But, both the older and younger Fianna Fail members of the Cabinet are confident that the "guilt by association stuff coming from Fine Gael" will not affect the Taoiseach.
"He may have gathered the votes for Charlie but Bertie had no high lifestyle of grandeur," according to one minister. "We have to put diversionary tactics in place," said another.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, and the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, plan to keep the pressure on the Government in the Dail this week when they raise a number of new controversies with Mr Ahern.
Mr Bruton said yesterday that he wanted a comprehensive explanation from Mr Ahern of the reason he introduced Section 19 of the Finance Act, 1994, reportedly to the benefit of one individual.
Mr Ken Rohan, the millionaire property developer, told the Sunday Tribune that he had no outstanding tax problem with the Revenue Commissioners in 1994 when Mr Ahern, the then minister for finance, introduced the retrospective legislation.
Mr Bruton said on RTE yesterday that it was "very unusual" to introduce retrospective legislation. "You couldn't introduce retrospective legislation to penalise somebody but here we have, apparently as a result of an individual request, retrospective legislation being introduced to benefit certain individuals," he said.
A Government spokesman said that the Department of Finance would be looking at the files.
Mr Quinn told the Munster Euro-selection convention in Cork that today's Ireland needed a Government better than this one. "For the sake of our country and of our political system, it is time for this Government to end," he added.
He queried whether the Taoiseach knew of the involvement of his friend, Mr Tim Collins, in the Quarryvale development when he spoke in the Dail on January 27th. If he did, why didn't he inform the Dail and the Tanaiste? Mr Quinn asked. He also asked the Taoiseach to deal with the reports that Fianna Fail's national organiser, Mr Sean Sherwin, had contacts with a US businessman who had links with Mr Tom Gilmartin.
